Make saving a habit

Saving is a habit, not a destination.

February is already here. How are your New Year’s resolutions going? The resolutions that have the greatest impact are those that form useful habits that we no longer have to think about—they just happen.

If you resolved to save money, most financial experts advise saving something and saving often. Having a savings goal is certainly a good thing, but the real celebration comes when saving becomes an automatic practice.

By setting up your savings with automatic contributions, your funds move into a dedicated place. This accomplishes your mission, and you now have a useful habit.

Apply this same useful habit to education savings by investing in my529, Utah’s official 529 educational savings plan. 529 funds can help pay for qualified education expenses like tuition, books, computers, and other supplies for traditional and technical colleges. Savings can also be used for K-12 tuition expenses, apprenticeships and student loan repayments up to certain amounts.

Automating those contributions makes saving even easier.

It is simple to set up automatic contributions online through your my529 account. You remove the burden of remembering how often and how much to deposit into your education savings.

A recent Forbes article stated that more parents now plan and save for their children’s schooling. Many families, though, are still caught off guard by the high costs of postsecondary education. The sooner you can start saving and automate your contributions, the more opportunity your account has to grow.

Your employer may be able to help you set up an automatic, after-tax contribution directly from your paycheck into your my529 account. Check with your employer to ensure they have the ability to offer multiple payroll direct deposits, and then enroll in this option through an online account at my529.

When funds are contributed into my529 automatically, the money is less likely to be spent on other things and has more opportunity to grow. This is one resolution you can mark off your list early this year.

Learn more at my529.org.